Ashley Benson dressed as a sexy version of Cecil the Lion, Hedi Klum as a Hindu goddess, and Ashley Tisdale as a sexualized skull image used by Mexicans to honor dead relatives. Ashley Benson/Instagram; Joe Corrigan/Getty Images; Ashley Tisdale/Instagram

But because a lot of people dress up in costumes for Halloween, this type of thing tends to happen around the end of October.

Too often, we'll see celebrities dress up in blackface, as caricatures of other cultural figures, or wear a costume that's supposed to be some kind of witty commentary on a recent horrific event. They're all really bad ideas.

Here are 15 celebrities who dressed up in the most outrageous costumes.

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Julianne Hough's blackface for her "Crazy Eyes" costume was one of the most derided in years.

Snowboarder Shaun White dressed up as a caricature of people with disabilities.

In October 2108, Shaun White dressed up as "Simple Jack," a character played by Ben Stiller in "Tropic Thunder." In the movie, the character iss used to make fun of the movie industry's tendency to turn the lives of people with disabilities into "Oscar bait," although disability advocates found the portrayal shallow.

A spokesperson for the Special Olympics, as well as fans of White, criticized him for the costume after he posted a photo of it on Instagram. White ultimately issued an apology.

"I owe everyone in the Special Olympics community an apology for my poor choice of Halloween costume the other night," he said in an Instagram post Tuesday. "It was a last minute decision. It was the wrong one."

White said the Special Olympics, which also criticized "Tropic Thunder" in 2008, was right to criticize him.

"The Special Olympics were right to call me out on it," he said. "They do great work supporting so many tremendous athletes and I am sorry for being insensitive. Lesson learned."

In 2012, Chris Brown dressed up as a "terrorist."

In a now-deleted post on Instagram, Brown posted a photo of himself and friends dressed in turbans with fake beards. "Ain't nobody F---ing wit my clique!" he wrote in the caption.

"Someone take him to a little house way out in the country and give him some food and water and just leave him there," The Atlantic wrote. "Because he's simply too aggravating to be out here with the rest of us."

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Heidi Klum angered a lot of Hindu leaders when she dressed up as the goddess Kali.

"Goddess Kali is highly revered in Hinduism and she is meant to be worshipped in temples and not to be used in clubs for publicity stunts or thrown around loosely for dramatic effect," said Hindu cleric Rajan Zed.

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Hillary Duff and her then-boyfriend athlete Jason Walsh dressed up as a pilgrim and Native American stereotype.

"Pretty Little Liars" actress Ashley Benson dressed up as a sexy version of a beloved and recently-murdered lion.

Ashley Benson as a sexy version of Cecil the Lion.
Ashley Benson/Instagram

The year 2015 was a tough year for animal lovers, with the deaths of both Harambe the Gorilla and Cecil the Lion. Benson went ahead and barreled along anyway with a "sexy Cecil the Lion" costume.

"Help! Can't decide on my Halloween costume this year! What do you guys think of this Cecil the Lion costume?," she posted on Instagram.

Later, she revised the post to remove Cecil's name.

"Yesterday's post was in poor taste and I absolutely regret all of the hurt that photo caused," she posted the next day. "The caption that was posted was incorrect and my costume was not Cecil the Lion, when I saw that, I contacted my management who handled the post and had it immediately changed."

As it turned out, it was meant to be an advertisement for Yandy's "Sexy Cecil the Lion costume," since renamed "Sexy Lion Costume." Benson said she would donate the money she made from the Yandy deal to the World Wildlife Fund.

"If I hurt you, we were being authentic to the characters of Sid and Nancy for our Halloween costumes," Rinna and Hamlin later wrote on Instagram. "It hurt and angered many of you and we are deeply sorry for that. That was never our intention. We did not mean to offend. With love, Lisa and Harry."

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Chrissy Teigen was criticized for dressing up as a Native American in 2008.

Ashley Tisdale was accused of sexualizing an image Mexicans traditionally use to honor dead relatives

For last year's Halloween, Tisdale wore face makeup and an outfit that's reminiscent of a decorated skull for Día de los Muertos. The "Day of the Dead" is a Mexican celebration that honors deceased relatives. It's held near Halloween each year. Some of the commenters on her Instagram photo of the costume were mad about it, particularly since it appeared to sexualize the holiday.

The skull image, also known as La Catrina, was originally meant to mock the elite whose political policies "were resulting in hunger and starvation for 90% of the Mexican populace," Virginia Commonwealth University professor of religious studies Andrew Chestnut told Refinery29.

"The skeleton is the representation of the death of the policies this dictatorship was having in Mexico," he said.

La Catrina may be creepy to people who aren't familiar with it, but that doesn't mean it makes sense for Halloween.

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The Chainsmokers dressed up as "Ebrola" in the middle of the Ebola epidemic that killed thousands of people.

In 2014, the Chainsmokers — EDM duo Andrew Taggart and Alex Pall — performed at Binghamton University, and later performed a private set an an off-campus fraternity. The theme was "Ebrola," a bro-ish take on the ebola epidemic in West Africa that had killed more than 5,000 people at that point in the year. They dressed up in hazmat suits and mustaches, as if they were health workers, and were roundly criticized in the local press.